Legally Blonde, Summer Fest & Final Assembly of the Year
Final Assembly Of The Year
Today was the final assembly for the academic year where among other things, I spoke about the great things that have happened this year at TA of which there have been many !
Performing Arts Academy Performance – Legally Blonde
On Tuesday and Wednesday evening this week the Performing Arts Academy staged their inarguable production, Legally Blonde. The cast of 23 students from Year 7 – 10 have been rehearing twice a week since October in preparation for this week’s performance. The confidence, enthusiasm and maturity they exuded on stage was particularly impressive. A special mention must go to the lead lady, Charlotte Povey, who blew the audience away with her captivating performance but also the lead she has taken throughout the entire rehearsal process. Congratulations to all involved. Can’t wait for the next one! If you are interested in joining the PA Academy please see Miss Pappin for an application form for 2017 – 2018.
TA Summer Fest!
Thursday afternoon the whole school came out after lunch to enjoy TA Summer Fest. The outdoor Summer Festival included a full lineup of music on the outdoor stage, a variety of stalls and activities and a BBQ for everyone to enjoy. The event was planned and delivered by the 6th form music students as part of their BTEC Level 3 music course. The music students teamed up with the student leadership team to put on the large scale event for the whole TA community to enjoy. The students were responsible for every aspect of the event including the site plan, advertising, merchandise, stage set up, the line up, sound engineering, risk assessment and budget to name just a few things! All students who were involved in the festival were an absolute credit to the school, be it as performers, tech crew, stall managers, sound engineers or spectators. An awesome event to end the term!
Maths Teachers Learn Mastery
During the Non-Pupil Day last Friday, several members of the Maths Department were learning all about a new teaching method called Mastery Maths. This new style of teaching will be used with the Year 7 students in September. Students will gain a greater depth of understanding which will help their progress. Although it looks like the teachers are playing with cubes, they are actually using them to answer questions! Manipulatives such as multi-link cubes, counting ropes, counters and grid boards are used to help find a fresh perspective to allow innovative problem solving. The new Year 7 students can look forward to an exciting way of learning Maths when they start in September.
Mazzlefest!!
Two Year 7 Maths classes took part in the first inter-house challenge of the new Mazzlefest on Wednesday. Mazzlefest is the name of the brand new house competition ‘Maths Puzzle Festival’. Students were encouraged to work in small groups, pitting their wits against a number of different challenge puzzles which tested their logic and thinking skills. The puzzles included such challenges as ‘Icosuku’ where you had to arrange triangles with the correct numbers of dots around the vertices of an icosahedron; ‘Pandemonium’ which involved recreating a puzzle pattern with different shapes, locations and colours; ‘Gridlock’ where you had to move cars, buses and other traffic one piece at a time to let the red car escape the traffic; ‘Perilous Penguins’ where you had to see how many tiny penguins you could balance on an iceberg before they all fell off, and many more intriguing, brain-teaser puzzles. At the end of the first round on Wednesday, Brunel were in the lead with a score of 42, followed by Harrison, Darwin and Nearne. With the other Year 7 classes yet to take part, the field is still open to see which house wins the very first Mazzlefest!
TA Boys Impress at Torquay United
Two of our Sixth Form Football Academy students impressed Torquay United’s manager, Kevin Nicholson, during a pre-season match against Stoke Gabriel. To read the full story, please click on the link below:
Sports Day 2017
Wednesday of this week saw our annual sports day and once again it did not disappoint. From the very start of the morning when Year 7 and 8 took to the track and field you could tell it was going to be a day to remember and the students did not disappoint, records tumbled throughout the first session and continued to do so in the second session which saw the year 9 and 10 students take to the track and field. The day however was not all about records it was also about endeavour, determination and pushing yourself to the limits, this was exemplified by Charlotte Edinborough and Owen Morgan who between them got the biggest cheers of the day for their heroic efforts in the races they took part in.
Equally there were a number of other students who took part wholeheartedly and deserve much credit, many of which do not normally take part in sports events offered to them in school, so a big well done to all of them. At the last count there were 35 individual and 1 team records broken. Notable record breakers came in the shape of Year 7 Emma Harrison who broke the school record for both 400 metres and 800 metres fresh from winning the Gold at the South Devon Championships at 800 metres. Georgia Davies broke the Year 8 girls 200 metres and 400 metres records and looked very strong in doing so.
Year 10 football team star Olaf Koszela broke both the 400 metre and 800 metre records to add to the records he broke last year. However star performer in terms of records broken has to go to Krisjanis Rumnieks, Year 9 who broke 3 records on the day he broke the javelin and 200 metres records in the morning and added the 100 metres in the afternoon.
The afternoon saw 8 thrilling 100 metres races and the always exciting relays races. Unfortunately we were having so much fun that we ran out of time and could not hold the annual PE staff 60 metre dash, a pity as Mr Jones will have to wait at least one more year before he takes the title from Mr Harries!! At the end of the day when the points were added up Christie House came out on top and were declared Sports Day House winners however pardon the cliche but on the day everyone that took part was a winner and should be congratulated for making the day such a wonderful spectacle.
Year 8 South Devon Rounders Tournament
On Tuesday 4th July the year 8 rounders team travelled to Teignmouth School to take part in the South Devon Rounders tournament.
The girls competed against 5 other schools and I was extremely impressed by their performance throughout. At the start the team came up against some strong competition and despite their strong fielding skills, narrowly lost to St Cuthbert Maine (5 1/2 – 4), Churston Ferris Grammar School (8-6) and Teignmouth (5-4). The team dominated the game throughout against Paignton to secure a convincing win (8 1/2 – 2 1/2) but were unfortunately beaten by Newton Abbot College (12 -1 1/2) in the final match.
The girls have worked so hard this season and have shown real commitment to training. They have been a real pleasure to work with. Congratulations to all involved!
Team
Gessalay Gutteridge
Mya Miles
Georgia Davies
Jasmine Winterton
Anna Hobson
Myah Brett Wilson
Grace Parsons
Rosie Barnes
Daisy Poole Crampton
Harriet Ellis Burns
Dartmouth Castle Visit
On Tuesday 11th July, Year 10 History students visited Dartmouth Castle as part of their History GCSE. Students discovered how the castle has been used and developed throughout its history and were fascinated by the importance of the castle both locally and nationally. This fieldwork was completed in preparation for an examination next year which makes up 20% of their History GCSE.
MADE Project final at the Riviera International Centre
Year 7 students Brooke, Hailey and Nikita represented the school at the second annual MADE Project finals. They competed against other teams from Torbay schools and were narrowly beaten to victory by The Spires College in a closely fought round of group presentations. Judges praised Brooke, Hailey and Nikita for the quality of their presentation, the way in which they handled tricky questioning and the close links that had been forged with the link company. They loved their multi-function flat-packed desk based product that functioned as a stationery holder and money box whilst also promoting the Gooch and Housego brand.
Brooke who was both the Managing Director and Financial Director of the team and said “The project has really got me interested in engineering and design in a way I hadn’t thought about before. I loved doing it and can’t wait to make even more cool things back at school.”
Former TA student Paul Rogers, now Product Manager with Gooch and Housego, also attended the event and spoke to the audience about his career pathway into engineering and how he had worked with the school to help students develop their ideas further.
The girls had been selected by winning a nail biting semi final held in the previous week at the Gooch & Housego boardroom. They impressed general Manager of the Torquay manufacturing site, Graham Catley with their passion for the subject, well considered answers and belief in their product. They then worked tirelessly in Design & Technology lessons, lunchtimes and after school to get the product and presentation ready in time for the grand final. Other products in the semi-final designed and made by Year 7 students included an automatic light-up drinks coaster, a colour-changing LED pencil pot, phone holder and a luggage tag.
All the students who entered the semi-final were also treated to a tour of the high-tech factory facilities and were able to learn first hand about how products are designed and made in the photonics industry.
Lexia
This week we celebrated those students who have been able to complete the Lexia Intervention Programme this year. It is a fantastic achievement, one which requires a lot of hard work and resilience. Lexia increases with difficulty each time a pupil progresses to a new level and incrementally builds on prior learning so that the students reading and ability steadily builds with each new level. Well done !!
French Speaking Test
Year 9 students Poppy Bell and Ella Squibb have created an outstanding piece of work for French. Click on link below to view.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxoiRNb8DoRnQ2NmNlZKb1QzalU/view?ts=596645f9
Principal Certificates
Bronze : (not in order) Millie Peplow, Amelia Baker, Polly Lawler, Juliette Loud, Leilah Poulain, Joel Hallam, Bobbie Baker-Thornley, Adam Howward, Kyle Higgins
Silver : (not in order) Connor Berry-Mills, Mya Miles, Sanamtha Gourlay, Liam Wallace, Mackenzie Pratt, Brooke Cheesmond, Billy Robson, Kacy Miller
Gold : Sophie Davis, Sam Shewell
Governor Certificates
Governor Bronze: Taylor Ford, Louis Mellitt
Students of the Week
Students of the week with myself and Mr Chadwick are : Brooke McCann,Samantha Gourlay, Charlotte Povey
